Millions of island-like solar farms could help suck CO2 from the atmosphere and repurpose the gas into synthetic fuel, say researchers.
In a new paper, scientists from Norway and Switzerland propose the construction of 11 million 'marine-based artificial islands,' each as big as a football field, to help mitigate the disastrous effects of carbon-based fossil fuels.
To achieve their goal, the futuristic 'islands' would come equipped with a host of technologies, some existing and some not.
Using photovoltaic cells, for example, researchers say the giant hubs could convert sunlight into electricity, which would then be used to power the extraction of hydrogen and CO2 from seawater.
Floating solar energy farms aren't entirely new, but a recent proposal would bring them one step further with technology that can convert CO2 in seawater to synthetic fuel. File photo
In a catalytic process, these fuels -- hydrogen and CO2 -- would then be combined to form methanol which could be used as a fuel for other purposes -- powering cars, boats, and other fossil fuel-based machines.
Researchers say that the proposal offers a 'net-zero' alternative to using fossil fuels that repurposes as much fuel as it generates.
The method is described in a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
While the scientists say their proposal is feasible, it is, by their own admission, nothing short of ambitious.
Islands would have to be clustered in groups of 70 and would cover about one square kilometer, or about half of a mile. The floating clusters would have to be situated in relatively mild waters to avoid giant waves and hurricanes.
Among the potential locations would be oceans in near Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Arabian Gulf, say scientists.
Other more fundamental obstacles in bringing the floating fuel conversion farms to fruition is the actual science behind the process.
As reported by Newsweek, researchers are still currently trying to build a device capable of separating CO2 from seawater at scale.
'[The] biggest challenge is the development of a large scale device to extract CO2 from seawater,' the study's author, Andreas Borgschulte, told Newsweek.
'This process is the only one of the total system [that] has not yet been fully developed. All others exist already on an industrial scale.'
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